News

Diana letter to Yorkshire campaigner sells for £3,000

THE last official letter written by Diana, Princess of Wales, which was sent to a North Yorkshire human rights campaigner just weeks before she died, has sold at auction for nearly £3,000.

The note, signed "with love from Diana", was sent to humanitarian campaigner Dilys Cheetham from Richmond on August 11, 1997, thanking her for her work in Bosnia, just three weeks before the princess died.

Diana, who had just returned from a three-day visit to Bosnia as part of her campaign against landmines, wrote that she had been "deeply moved by the experience".

She said that it had hardened her "resolve to ensure the world does not forget that those who have been so needlessly maimed by these terrible weapons will need care and support for many years to come".

Ms Cheetham, who died in 2006, originally sold the letter at a charity auction in 1999 to raise money for landmine victims. Yesterday the note was sold at Fellows Auctions in Birmingham to a private collector, for £2,976.

Mark Huddleston, head of antiques at Fellows, described it as an incredibly important letter in terms of modern history.

"The letter is moving not only because of its heartfelt message but also because it would have been the last ever written by her," he said.